SWANSEA put in their most assured Premier League performance of the season by dismantling Fulham in their own backyard – but now the hard work really starts.

Manager Brendan Rodgers must keep predators off his prized assets and, in particular, two-goal hero Gylfi Sigurdsson, currently on loan from Hoffenheim.

Signing Icelander Sigurdsson permanently should be Rodgers’ top priority this summer, according to team-mates who have seen him bang in four goals in three games and slot seamlessly into a well-drilled Swansea midfield.

Swansea have Sigurdsson on loan from the German club until the end of the season, but no arrangement is in place to make that deal permanent.

Joe Allen, who scored Swansea’s third goal, says the club should do all they can to change that.

“A goalscoring midfielder, especially at this level, is like gold dust,” he said.

“It’s a shame that, technically, he isn’t our player. No doubt we will do everything we can to sign him.”

A goalscoring midfielder, especially at this level, is like gold dust

Swansea's Joe Allen

Sigurdsson was upbeat after Swansea recorded their third win on the trot and their 12th clean sheet of the season in moving up to eighth in the table with 39 points, saying he took little persuading to join them in January.

“Brendan was a factor in me coming here but, as soon as I knew there was a chance of coming to Swansea, Brendan didn’t need to convince me,” he said.

Fulham boss Martin Jol had done his homework and got his side to press Swansea at every opportunity. But Swansea rose to the challenge and three goals were a fair reflection of the gulf in class.

Sigurdsson scored the first in the 36th minute with a close-range header after Scott Sinclair prodded Wayne Routledge’s cross back into the six-yard box. Routledge made the second, too, playing a one-two with Sigurdsson, who finished well.

Allen got the third after some comedy defending from Brede Hangeland, who gave the ball to Sinclair then fell over while trying to stop Allen jinking past him and sidefooting into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Jol admitted his side had been well beaten. “Swansea wanted the ball all the time and we were a bit sloppy,” he said.